Export prices for non-fragrant rice continued to surge, mainly in response to the pending shipment demand for parboiled rice and white rice. Prices of parboiled rice increased significantly, following current aggressive loading activity of parboiled rice for shipment to Nigeria. Meanwhile, shipments of white rice for Iran and Iraq’s outstanding contract are reportedly going on. Also, the government’s new intervention price of about 1,000 Baht/ton higher than the previous year’s price strengthened domestic prices.

Regarding the upward revision of the Thai Commerce Ministry’s rice export target from 8.5 million tons to 9.0 million ton in CY 2004, some major Thai rice exporters remained pessimistic due to their current weak new order demand, particularly for white rice. Also, the current shipment of parboiled rice to African countries, which partly boosted the export volume in July to a record around 997,100 tons, will likely fall off to a less aggressive level, once the Ramadan starts in October.

As for fragrant rice, prices continued to decline in response to the competition from the relatively cheaper “Pathumthani 1” fragrant rice, for which the government policy remained uncertain in its classification. The official sources reported that exports of “Pathumthani 1” fragrant rice amounted to around 84,837 tons during Jan. 1 – Jul. 15, 2004.